Todd ParnellTodd Parnell is the recently retired President of Drury University, founding CEO of THE BANK in Springfield, Mo., civic leader, environmental advocate as co-founder of the Upper White River Basin Foundation and recently retired Chairman of the Missoui Clean Water Commission, and award winning author inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame in 2012. He holds Masters degrees in Business Administration from Dartmouth University and History from Missouri State University, and an undergraduate degree from Drury University.Parnell began writing non-fiction during his years as a banker and educator, including published works The Buffalo, Ben, and Me, Trails of the Heart: Along the Buffalo River, Mom at War, and Postcards from Branson. He tried his hand at fiction upon retiring from the Drury presidency and hasn't stopped writing since, publishing the Ozarkian Folk Tales Trilogy {Skunk Creek, Swine Branch, and Donny Brook), with a second trilogy, Children of the Creek in production.His most current release, Pig Farm, unfolds a sweeping and rollicking historical tall tale set in the context of a real time environmental tragedy, along side America's first national river, the Buffalo. Brimming with humor and colorful characters, riddled with mystery and tragedy, and laced with money and greed, fiction merges with fact to paint a disturbing portrait of a "pig farm" over time.Parnell was born in Branson, Mo. and is an eighth-generation Ozarker. He resides with his wife of 44 years, Betty, in Springfield, Mo. and is blessed with four children and five grandchildren. Read More Read Less